The Ministry of Finance is going to increase budget revenues at the expense of smokers. Deputy Minister Sergei Shatalov said that since 2006, fiscal authorities have been ready to levy excise taxes on tobacco products not from the vacation price, but with retail. If this happens, a pack of cigarettes will become a luxury and automatically rise in price by 30-40%. The Ministry of Finance does not hide that these plans are dictated by a lack of money.

In Latvia, a mass public organization has been officially registered in defense of the interests of the Russian -speaking population - the United Congress of the Russian communities of Latvia (Okrol), ITAR -TASS reports. “Our main task for the near future is to accept all the residents of Latvia to the members of our organization,” the co -chair of Okrol Mikhail Tyasin said. “According to the calculations, about 50 thousand people are going to enter the okrol.

The new, tenth in a row, the Russian-American crew set off on Thursday flight of the Soyuz-TMA ship to the International Space Station (ISS). The main crew of the ISS-10 expedition included Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov (Russia) and astronaut Leroy Chiao (USA), said Valery Lyndin official representative of the Central Administration, RIA Novosti reports. “The duration of their flight should be 180 days.

The verses of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sergei Lavrov entered the poetic collection, published on the 60th anniversary of MGIMO. This was announced by the rector of Mgimim Anatoly Torkunov, presenting the book to Russian journalists, RIA Novosti reports. “In this collection, we tried to collect both the poetic heritage of our university and the verses of the current students,” said the rector of MGIMO.

The state will put up 76.8% of the authorized capital of Yuganskneftegaz OJSC, the starting price of the package will be calculated based on the estimate of all shares of the company at $ 10.4 billion with a discount of 60% as a minority package. Thus, the starting price of this stock package will be a little more than $ 4 billion.

The Pakistani Special Forces conducted a successful operation to liberate the Kinese hostages captured by the al-Qaeda militants. On Thursday morning, army special forces stormed a dugout in which terrorists barricaded. As a result of the special operation, all 5 terrorists are destroyed. One of the hostages also died, reports Reuters with reference to the Chinese agency Xinhua.

In the suburbs, an attack was attacked on the deputy head of the bailiff service of the Moscow Region. According to the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Khimkinsky district, on the eve of about eight in the morning in Khimki near Moscow on Bobakin Street, two unknown people inflicted four stab wounds in the back of the 40-year-old local resident, deputy head of the bailiffs of the Moscow region, after which they disappeared.

On Thursday evening, in the area of ​​Mount Pilion in the Central Greek region of Thessaly, fragments of two F-16 fighters of the Greek Air Force were discovered. According to the Greek Macedonian News Agency, fighters disappeared from radar screens during a training flight. In each of the two cars there were two pilots, which until now are considered missing. Earlier it was reported that the aircraft gave a signal about the catapulting of crew members.

British scientists have found that the study of foreign languages ​​helps to increase the amount of gray matter in the brain. The study was attended by 58 volunteers speaking in English and Italian (25 of them know both languages ​​from childhood and 33 learned the second language in adulthood). At the same time, a group of 25 people who speak only one language was studied, BBC reports. Using scanners, scientists determined the density of gray matter (neurons) in the brain.

The Russian woman Dinara Safina removed the Tennis "Kremlin Cup" from the draw, which takes place these days at the Olympic SK. On Thursday, in the match of the second circle, the sister of Marat Safina lost to the second racket of the tournament American Lindsay Davenport - 4: 6, 2: 6. The meeting lasted about an hour and a half. The Russian woman made four double mistakes against one of Devvenport, which also made eight servings right back (Safina - only two).

Former world jumping champion Finn Matti Nyananen will appear on the charges of killing on October 27. According to AP, in a state of intoxication, Nyukanen hit his 59-year-old friend, who, after the incident, was forced to spend several days in the hospital ward. The former athlete and his wife were detained by the police in this case on August 24 in his summer house in Nokia. Nyukanen’s wife was released after testing, but her husband had to expect a trial in prison.

The gang of criminals in the Brazilian city of San Paulo in less than 15 minutes robbed the office of the collection company. According to preliminary data, in such a short time they managed to take possession of the amount of at least 4.7 million reactions ($ 1.6 million).

The Russian Orthodox Church celebrates on October 14 (October 1 according to the old style) one of the most beloved holidays - the cover of the Blessed Virgin Mary . This morning, the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Alexy II, headed the Divine Liturgy in the Pokrovsky Stavropigial (directly subordinate to the Patriarch) monastery, RIA Novosti reports. The Feast of the Protection is especially revered by the Eastern Church and is one of the great.

The ordinary US Army Lindy Ingland, accused by the military tribunal of bullying Abu Graib near Baghdad, became a mother. As the newspaper The Baltimore Sun said on Thursday, the 21-year-old jailer gave birth to a son on the army base Fort Bragg (North Carolina). Private Ingland was charged with 19 points for cruelty with Iraqi prisoners. If guilty admitted, she faces a prison conclusion for a period of 38 years.

The rights of the American actress Elizabeth Taylor on the picture of the brush of Vincent Van Gogh are disputed in the court of Los Angeles. The lawsuit was filed by Margaret Mautnner living in Germany. The woman claims that the canvas belonging to the actress was confiscated by the Nazis from the Mautner family during the Second World War, RIA Novosti reports with reference to France Press.